Tiny Little Fractures
by rainbowishprincess
Summary: She can't help it though, and as hard as she tries, she's not sure if she'll be able to give him up. Loving Peter was like a drug. He was addictive, alluring, but in the end, loving him would be her downfall. Spoilers for 1.14. NonAU.


**Author's Note:** This is NOT an AU. This is canon with the show. Well, I'm kind of confused on her age XD So I just kind of rounded it all off and call it good, yes? Anyway, yes, since it's a Peter/Claire (kind of) and it's canon... you know what that means. KRING CAN'T BRING US SHIPPERS DOWN! If incest squicks you, don't read, period. Flame's are... uncool. But anyway, read, and hopefully enjoy : ) This is my first Heroes fanfic, oooh!

Spoilers up to 1.14 - Distractions.

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, I don't own, yadda, yadda, yadda. Heroes belongs to Kring and all them. The title is taken from a Snow Patrol song.

* * *

It's just a touch. 

It's just a simple gesture, his hand extending for her shoulder. It lingers there and somehow seems to imprint. An invisible tattoo of sorts. She suddenly wants to pretend like it's 10 years ago and she's eight so she can loudly proclaim, "I'm never going to wash this spot!" but of course, it's not 10 years ago. So she can't. Besides, she's graduating in less than twenty-four hours and she has to look nice because looking otherwise simply would not do. Sure, being the blood-stained Homecoming Queen was okay when she was sixteen, but not anymore. Not tomorrow. Tomorrow night she'd smile, and she'd cry, and she'd make sure she'd look dazzling doing it.

_It's not because of him_, she tells herself, and she wishes she knew how to lie to herself. With all the screwed up things she could do, twist, break, mutilate every bone in her body only to have it repair itself within seconds... she couldn't set forth deceitful wiles to herself.

People are clapping, because it's 24 hours later and she just graduated. She did the cap and gown, she did the pictures, she got her diploma and she was happy - and admittedly shallow - to note that yes, she looked stunning during every minute of it.

That's when Peter comes over. Involuntarily, she inspects every inch of him. His face held none of it's usual stubble. He shaved, just for this event, and Claire feels uncompressed elation at this. It feels like a victory. His hair was his hair, his bangs were as floppy as ever and he smells like really expensive cologne. It's probably Nathan's, she reasons, trying to block off the "your _dad _Nathan" thoughts and focuses at the subject at hand. The gorgeous, amazing subject at hand...

And just like that, Grad night falls flat for her. These thoughts. Again. About her _uncle_, no less. She can't help it though, and as hard as she tries, she's not sure if she'll be able to give him up. Loving Peter was like a drug. He was addictive, alluring, but in the end, loving him would be her downfall. Claire grasped for little bits of Peter the way that cigarette smokers craved nicotine. She felt satisfaction in the small things- IM's, emails, pictures - but nothing was quite as satisfactory as seeing him, especially when he had come just for her.

He smiles at her and it's so beautiful that she wants to cry.

He leans forward, dropping his mouth close to her ear and her heart beat starts ricocheting everywhere. She can't help but loathe herself for it.

"I told you life would get better after high school," is what he says, topped with one of those little smiles he gave that that were so rare, so special, that she liked to think were just for her. "Now you can find out for yourself."

"I h-hope so," is what she squeaks out, and he mistakes it for post-graduation nerves.

"You will," he told her, in a confident, assured tone. "I know you, Claire. You'll kick ass out there."

He touches her shoulder again, like he had 24 hours before, and the movement is so unbelievably casual but she's mentally fanning herself. She knew she must have been blushing. Why was Peter so _nice?_ He must have had some conceit, hidden under all that sweet apparel. But it doesn't appear so, so she tries not to cry again, wondering if she's doomed to repeat this little cycle until the day she dies. If she were capable of dying.

"Congratulations, Claire," he says, and his hand is still on her shoulder.

She looks up at him with a smile and hopes no one notices exactly just how precious that touch is to her.


End file.
